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Steven W. Percy, MBA '72: Winner of the 2018 Alumni Achievement Award

​The University of Michigan’s Stephen M. Ross School of Business is honored to present Steven W. Percy, MBA ’72, with the 2018 David D. Alger Alumni Achievement Award.

Steve Percy is the former Chairman and CEO of BP America, Inc., BP’s U.S. subsidiary prior to its merger with Amoco Corporation, and served in that capacity from 1996 until 1999. Prior to assuming those duties, he was President of BP Oil in the U.S. from 1992 to 1996. Mr. Percy returned to BP America in 1992 from London, England where he served as Group Treasurer of The British Petroleum Company p.l.c. and Chief Executive of BP Finance International.

Since retiring from BP he has served as the head of Phillips Petroleum’s Refining, Marketing and Transportation Company, visited as a Professor of Corporate Strategy and International Business at the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business, lectured at Michigan’s School of Natural Resources and the Environment, and conducted workshops on corporate governance for the AHC Group, a strategic consultant in the areas of environment, energy, materials, and corporate governance. Most recently, he has served as Interim Dean of the Monte Ahuja College of Business at Cleveland State University, and now serves as the Leader in Residence at the Cleveland Marshall College of Law at Cleveland State.

Mr. Percy has contributed to the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment as Coordinating Lead Author with respect to its Conceptual Framework and its Responses working group as well as leading the writing of its synthesis report for business and industry.

Mr. Percy is a member of the Board of Directors of Omnova Solutions Inc. and is Chair of its Audit Committee. Mr. Percy recently retired as Non-executive Chairman of Wavefront Technology Solutions Inc., a Canadian company that has developed and commercialized innovative technologies for optimized fluid flow in the environmental and energy sectors, and remains an advisor.

Born in 1946, Mr. Percy is a native of Northeast Ohio. He earned a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, a Masters in Business Administration from The University of Michigan and a Juris Doctorate from Cleveland Marshall College of Law. He has received an honory Doctor of Laws Degree from Cleveland State University. He is a member of the Ohio State Bar.

Mr. Percy joined The Standard Oil Company (predecessor of BP America) in 1976 following service in the U.S. Army and several years with Babcock & Wilcox as a Senior Planning Analyst. His posts with Standard Oil included Manager of American Flagged Marine Transportation, Manager of the Eastern Crude Oil Division, Director of Operations Analysis, Director of Downstream Strategic Planning and Development, and Director of the Executive Office. In 1987, following the merger of BP and Standard Oil, Mr. Percy moved to London to become Manager, Oil Planning and Control in BP Oil International.

Mr. Percy is the past Chairman of the Chautauqua Foundation, the Development arm of the Chautauqua Institution. Mr. Percy has been a member of the Advisory Board of the University of Michigan’s Erb Institute for Sustainable Enterprize, is a member of both the Cleveland State University Foundation Board and the Committee of Visitors of the Cleveland Marshall College of Law.

Previously, he has served as a member of President Clinton’s Council on Sustainable Development in the role of Co-Chair of its Climate Change Task Force. He also served as Vice Chair of the board of Resources for the Future, an environmental and econcomic research organization. He has Chaired Cleveland State University’s Foundation as well as the National Advisory Council of the Cleveland Marshall College of Law, held the position of Vice Chairman of the Greater Cleveland Growth Association and Chair of its Finance Committee and Chairman of Neighborhood Progress, Inc. He has also served as a member of the boards of University Hospitals of Cleveland, the American Petroleum Institute, the National Association of Manufacturers, Junior Achievement International, the British American Chamber of Commerce and the Council on Economic Priorities.

Mr. Percy is married to Barbara (Polly), a former math educator, and has two daughters, Amy, a pharmaceutical industry marketing professional, and Sarah who is an environmental consultant with a major petroleum company.

About the Award

Established in 1989, this award recognizes an alumnus or alumna of the business school whose attainments in their professional field have brought distinction to themselves, credit to the school, and benefit to their fellow citizens.

The Alumni Achievement Award has been named in honor of David D. Alger, MBA 1968, and 2001 recipient of this award. David was a dynamic, involved, passionate member of the Michigan Business School community and a member of the School’s Visiting Committee. David perished in the events of Sept. 11, 2001.